Beer Drinking Shire Horse Stolen and Now Back Home
When thieves stole a 22 month old gelding from his stable last week they were no doubt shocked to discover the Shire horse was partial to a daily pint of beer.
The beer drinking horse who answers to the name of Massey was stolen from his stable at Bradfield Brewery in the early hours of Valentines Day and was thankfully found a week later on a farm in Beverley in East Yorkshire.
Massey with a value of £14,000 was originally brought as a mascot when he was only four months old but it was not long before he became a well loved family pet. He enjoys pulling a cart around the Bradford Brewery which is run by John and Susan Gill as well as his daily pint of beer.
The pint a day shire horse soon became a well-known character and when word got out that he enjoyed his tipple, he was presented with his own engraved beer tankard, and in celebration of his first birthday last year the brewery named a beer after him and ‘Massey’s Mild’ was born.
John and Susan were contacted by a man who saw the story about a stolen horse in the local newspaper and realised it could be the horse he had purchased in good faith.
John said they were grateful to the fellow horse owner and said about him, "He immediately got in touch with the police and Massey is now back home. He has had a good feed and seems none the worse for the experience. We are just glad to have got him back”.
"But I have made sure that security is stepped up around his stable. We don't want him disappearing again. I want to warn other people with horses to keep an eye on them.
"The police are still trying to find out who took him. It was a big shock when he disappeared."
The Shire Horse
This magnificent horse can grow to heights of 16.2 to 17.2 hands with a weight of up to 2200 pounds. The name ‘shire’ comes from England and derives its name from the Saxon word ‘schyran’ meaning to shear or divide. It was King Henry VIII who first gave the word ‘shire’ to the horse in the 16th century.
Shire horses were used to pull carts over rough roads and to plough fields. With the improvement of the roads and coach travel becoming more popular in the 18th century, the Shire horse came into special demand.
It was not long before this breed of horse became the most powerful draft horse in Britain and used by breweries for many years to pull the heavily laden carts of barrels of beer.
Today the Shire horse is still used by breweries but not for delivering beer stock. You will find them decked out in their stylish accessories in weight-pulling and ploughing competitions.
One or two breweries can still be found that have their own Shire horse and will deliver locally within a 5 miles radius but the horses are used mainly for advertising at public functions at pub openings and fetes and can be hired for weddings.
No doubt the Shire horse has pulled many a barrel of beer through cobbled streets and on hot days the driver has given it a drink of beer to cool it down or as a reward.